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More from Ben

Sep27

From Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography:

In reality, there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself. You will see it perhaps often in this History. For even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should be proud of my Humility.–

Poor Ben! If only he could have come to our time and seen how we handle the pride problem. We simply rename it “self-esteem” and call it good. Instead of being proud of our humility, we’re proud of of our pride.

I read

Sep26

I got this story from Norma at collectingmythoughts, and she got it from a book review of Kitty Kelley’s horrible book about the Bush family.

Laura Welch, the future first lady, was still a mystery to the Bush family on the day she married George W. in 1978. The Bush matriarch, Prescott’s widow, tried to interrogate her after the ceremony.

“What do you do?” the old lady asked her.

“I read,” Laura replied.

I love it! I’m going to steal Laura Bush’s line and use it the very next time someone asks me what I do.

Finally

Sep23

The State Department designated Saudi Arabia as a “country of particular concern for religious freedom.” This is a country where:

No religion other than Islam may be practiced publicly, and all citizens must be Muslims. Churches and synagogues are illegal, though substantial numbers of foreign Christians live and work in the country. Muslims who convert to other religions can be put to death. Shiite Muslims are discriminated against; their clerics are detained and their testimony can be excluded in court proceedings.

However, in the past, our State Department has given Saudi Arabia a pass because of its strategic importance in the region. I doubt change in foreign poslicy will result from this designation, but at least it’s a start.

Better than Ben

Sep23

Now this advice from the blog god-of -small-things is even better than Ben Franklin’s. Blogger Bob Smietana got this list of steps in presenting an argument for an article in Sojourners magazine, and he says it came from somewhere else before that. Wherever, it’s a good plan:

1. Show respect for all positions on an issue, and for those who hold opposing opinions.
2. Understand the opposing side so well that you can present its arguments as clearly as its proponents do.
3. Begin your sermon by presenting the opposing case’s position.
4. Then present your position, rooting your position in biblical soil, admitting your position’s downsides.
5. Confess your openness to changing your thinking, thus modeling the teachability you hope your people will demonstrate.

I especially like step #2. In order to really understand the opposing side of an argument, you must spend a great deal of time actually listening. I think this is the hardest thing to do. I am often tempted to immediately jump into a discussion with my wonderful, profound insights instead of listening. After all, I’ve thought about these things, and of course, I know what the other person is going to say before he says it. Lord, give me more humility–even when I’m right, especially when I’m sure I’m right.

New to Me

Sep19

I thought I was the “picture book expert,” but in the past couple of weeks I’ve been introduced to two picture books with wonderful stories and illustrations–at church, of all places. The first book, The King at the Door by Brock Cole, tells the story of a king who’s disguised as a beggar. Only one person believes that the ragged old man is really the king and treats him with the proper respect and care. It’s out of print, but worth searching for.
The other book is also out of print, but a friend read it tonight at little tea party that we had for some 9-12 year old girls, including Brown Bear Daughter. I think the title is Mrs. Rosy Posy and the Fine China Plate by Robin Gunn, but I must have something wrong because I couldn’t find it on the internet by googling any combination of those words. Anyway, the book tells the story of a little girl who can’t go to a movie because her parents have said “no.” Mrs. Rosy Posy helps Natalie know how very special she is and how her parents love her enough to help her stay special and unstained–like a fine china plate.
I’m going to try to find a copy of both books to purchase before Christmas.

Join Me in Glad Adoration #4

Sep18

In Genesis, He’s the breath of life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He’s our High Priest
Numbers, The fire by night
Deuteronomy, He’s Moses’ voice
In Joshua, He is salvation’s choice

Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He’s sovereign
Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He’s the rebuilder of broken walls and lives

In Esther, He’s Mordecai’s courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, wisdom’s cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover’s dream

He is, He is, He is

In Isaiah, He’s the Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He’s the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever faithful

In Joel, He’s the spirit’s power
In Amos, the arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He’s the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He’s the great missionary
In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield

In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He’s pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zachariah, our fountain
In Malachi, He is the sun of righteousness rising with healing in His wings

He is, He is, He is

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God, man, Messiah
In the Book of Acts, He is fire from heaven
In Romans, He’s the grace of God
In Corinthians, the power of love
In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin

Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servant’s heart
In Colossians, He’s the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon, He’s our mediator and our faithful pastor

In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
In James, the one who heals the sick
In First and Second Peter, He is our shepherd
In John and in Jude, He’s the lover coming for His bride
In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords

He is, He is, He is

The Prince of Peace
The Son of Man
The Lamb of God
The Great I Am
He’s the Alpha and Omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
And when time is no more
He is
He is
—by Aaron Benward and Jeoffrey Benward

Thou shalt not steal

Sep18

I’m trying to wrap my brain around the ideas of copyright and intellectual property and the internet. Obviously, if I take someone else’s words and imply that that they are my thoughts and my words (plagiarism), I am at least lying, if not stealing. But what if I take your whole editorial or news article that is available on the internet, and I post it on my blog or website, attributing authorship to you? Is this plagiarism? No, I’m not claiming to have written what someone else wrote. Is it a violation of copyright? It would be if I posted a chapter of your (print) book, wouldn’t it? I don’t actually know how the copyright laws stand right now in this area. Then, there’s the matter of images. If an image is sitting on your site and I link to it in my post, I understand that I’m doing something rude having to do with “using up bandwidth”–whatever that means. But is it wrong to take your picture? How does anyone know what images are fair game and which are not? In the post below, I linked to a photograph of Billy Joel from the website of a major music company? Is this a problem? Is this huge company really worried about bandwidth? Or is that like stealing pencils from work–they’ll never miss it is no justification. Are photographs and paragraphs posted on the internet really private property anymore? When you put it on the internet, aren’t you saying, “Here, guys, I want to share this with the world?”
Then, again, if I posted a photo of myself or one of my family members, and someone took it and messed with it and sold it for profit somehow, I would feel definitely violated. I assume there are laws against this sort of thing. Are the laws enforceable? What if someone takes my words, messes with them a bit, and sells them? (Not that I’ve ever said anything profound enough to be stolen) What about lesson plans I find on the internet? I figure that if they’re on the net, again someone must have wanted someone else to get some benefit from them. Hoqwever, I may get ideas from lots of places–websites, books, other people–then put it all together and write my own book or curriculum. What if I post this conglomeration of ideas on the internet? Am I plagiarizing if I don’t even know where most of the ideas came from? I think the internet has made this whole area quite complicated, and I’m not sure where to draw the lines. And I haven’t even discussed “file-swapping”–mostly because I don’t really understand what the heck it is. Anybody out there got any ideas on this subject?

My two songs from iTunes this week

Sep17

Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel

Daniel by Elton John
I know Billy Joel is an atheist, and Elton John is a homos*xual. But I still like some of their songs.

I wasn’t raised Catholic, but I used to go to Mass with my friends, and I viewed the whole business as a lot of very enthralling hocus-pocus. There’s a guy hanging upon the wall in the church, nailed to a cross and dripping blood, and everybody’s blaming themselves for that man’s torment, but I said to myself, ‘Forget it. I had no hand in that evil. I have no original sin. There’s no blood of any sacred martyr in my hands. I pass on all of this’. . . I believe that all important matters have to be settled here, not in the clouds somewhere after we kick off. -Billy Joel

Join Me in Glad Adoration #3

Sep12

We sang this hymn in church this morning, and I liked it very much. The tune we used is apparently modern, but the words, as you can see, are very old. It fit in well with the reading I’ve been doing for American Literature: William Bradford, Jonathan Edwards, Anne Bradstreet. Also, the sermon from Malachi, chapter 2 referenced Jonathan Edwards and his godly seed and our responsibility to be teachers of truth.

What’er My God Ordains Is Right
text: Samuel Rodigast (1675)
music: David Braud

1. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Holy His will abideth
I will be still whate’er He does,
And follow where He guideth
He is my God, Though dark my road
He holds me that I shall not fall
Wherefore to Him I leave it all

2. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me
He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me
I take, content, what He hath sent
His hand can turn my griefs away
And patiently I wait His day

3. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all unshrinking
My God is true, each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart
And pain and sorrow shall depart

4. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Here shall my stand be taken
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken
My Father’s care is round me there
He holds me that I shall not fall
And so to Him I leave it all

September 11, 2004

Sep11

Three years later, and I think it’s more real to me, more tragic, more sad, than it was when it first happened. Then, I couldn’t believe it, couldn’t really take it in. Now I know that over 3000 people died on September 11, 2001 so that Islamic terrorists could make some sort of statement about how much they hate the West and all it stands for. Now I know that the evil people who did this thing aren’t through, that they are still killing people in Iraq, in Spain, in Bali, in the Philippines, in Russia. Now I know that they are willing to kill children, even babies, just to instill terror in anyone who opposes them. May the Lord of all things deliver us from evil now and forever. Amen.